diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,25 +1,46 @@
 # river
 
 river is a dynamic wayland compositor that takes inspiration from
-[dwm](https://dwm.suckless.org) and [bspwm](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm).
+[dwm](https://dwm.suckless.org) and
+[bspwm](https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm).
 
-*Note: river is currently early in development and not yet ready for the average end user*
+*Note: river is currently early in development and not yet ready for
+the average end user*
 
 ## Design goals
 
-- Simplicity and minimalism, river should not overstep the bounds of a window manger.
+- Simplicity and minimalism, river should not overstep the bounds of a
+window manger.
 - Dynamic window management based on a stack of views and tags like dwm.
 - Scriptable configuration and control through a socket and separate
 binary, `riverctl`, like bspwm.
 
+## Building
+
+To compile river first ensure that you have the following dependencies
+installed:
+
+- [zig](https://github.com/ziglang/zig) master (will depend on 0.6.0
+after that is released)
+- wayland
+- wayland-protocols
+- [wlroots](https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots) 0.10.1
+- xkbcommon
+
+Then simply run `zig build`.
+
+River can either be run nested in an X11/wayland session or directly
+from a tty using KMS/DRM.
+
 ## Development
 
-Check out the [roadmap](https://github.com/ifreund/river/issues/1) if you'd like to see
-what has been done and what is left to do.
+Check out the [roadmap](https://github.com/ifreund/river/issues/1)
+if you'd like to see what has been done and what is left to do.
 
-If you are interested in the development of river, please join our matrix channel:
+If you are interested in the development of river, please join our
+matrix channel:
 [#river](https://matrix.to/#/!BQgAgeafraCtMiVbSX:matrix.org?via=matrix.org).
 
-I can often be found in the `#sway-devel` IRC channel with the nick `ifreund`
-on irc.freenode.net as well, or reached by email at
+I can often be found in the `#sway-devel` IRC channel with the
+nick `ifreund` on irc.freenode.net as well, or reached by email at
 [ifreund@ifreund.xyz](mailto:ifreund@ifreund.xyz).